Keep On! : the Story of Matthew Henson, Co-Discoverer of the North Pole / Written by Deborah Hopkinson ; Written by :1

“The black darkness of the sky, the stars twinkling above, and hour after hour going by with no sunlight. Every now and then Rhodamine/Magenta (V)

a moon when storms do not W/F come, and always the cold, 1.25”XH:9.75” 150L 140 IKPP :1 getting colder and colder…”

—Matthew Henson TJ444-9-2008 IMUS 7/PCA0174 Keep On W Cyan Magenta Yellow Black Cyan Magenta Yellow Black

For Deborah Wiles, a true friend on this journey and always there to haul me out of holes.

—D. H.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS For Leo, loyal sleigh-riding companion of my youth.

Special thanks to Genevieve LeMoine, —S. A

Curator of the Peary-Macmillan Arctic Museum

at Bowdoin College, for her generous assistance.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher. THE STORY OF Book and cover design by Stephen Alcorn and Loraine M. Joyner TJ444-9-2008 IMUS 7/PCA0174 Keep On W Composition by Melanie McMahon Ives Illustrations created as giclee prints of original drawings on archival vellum and hand-tinted in watercolor; titles typeset Matthew Henson in Caxton bold, text typeset in Caxton book and book italic, and time line typeset in Optima and Sabon bold.

Printed in Singapore CO-DISCOVERER OF THE 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress W/F Rhodamine/Magenta (V) Cataloging-in-Publication Data North Pole Hopkinson, Deborah. Keep on! : the story of Matthew Henson, co-discoverer of the North Pole / written by Deborah Hopkinson ; written by :1

.5X:.5 5L140 IKPP 1.25”XH:9.75” 150L illustrated by Stephen Alcorn. p. cm. deborah hopkinson ISBN 13: 978-1-56145-473-0 ISBN 10: 1-56145-473-7 1. Henson, Matthew Alexander, 1866-1955--Juvenile literature.

2. African American explorers--Biography--Juvenile literature. illustrated by 1.25”XH:9.75” 150L 140 IKPP :1 3. Explorers--United States--Biography--Juvenile literature. 4. North Pole--Discovery and exploration--Juvenile literature. stephen alcorn 5. Arctic regions--Discovery and exploration--Juvenile literature. I. Alcorn, Stephen, ill. II. Title. G635.H4H67 2009 W/F Rhodamine/Magenta (V) 910.911'3--dc22 2008031118

The text of KEEP ON! is based on primary and secondary sources. Every attempt has been made to verify the information contained within, and any errors are the responsibility of the author. The artwork is inspired by the text and is a creative interpretation of the events described. TJ444-9-2008 IMUS 7/PCA0174 Keep On W Cyan Magenta Yellow Black Cyan Magenta Yellow Black

MATTHEW HENSON was born in a Maryland cabin,

at a time when boys dreamed of finding glory,

of planting flags at the ends of the Earth,

making the unknown known,

and recording their names into history books.

Young Matt had that same hunger to explore,

but most folks would have laughed at his dreams. TJ444-9-2008 IMUS 7/PCA0174 Keep On W For Matt was born in 1866, just after the Civil War,

a time when poor black boys like him

had few chances to roam the next county,

to say nothing of another country, the seven seas, W/F Rhodamine/Magenta (V)

or the top of the world. :1 .5X:.5 5L140 IKPP 1.25”XH:9.75” 150L 1.25”XH:9.75” 150L 140 IKPP :1 W/F Rhodamine/Magenta (V) TJ444-9-2008 IMUS 7/PCA0174 Keep On W

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By the time he was thirteen, Matt was alone.

He set out to make his way in the world,

trudging the long road from Washington, D.C.,

to the harbor of Baltimore.

What a bustling place it was!

Gulls screeched;

men shouted and rushed about,

loading and unloading ships of every size. TJ444-9-2008 IMUS 7/PCA0174 Keep On W And Matt stood alone, keen as an Arctic fox,

eager to pounce on any chance he could find. W/F Rhodamine/Magenta (V) :1 .5X:.5 5L140 IKPP 1.25”XH:9.75” 150L 1.25”XH:9.75” 150L 140 IKPP :1 W/F Rhodamine/Magenta (V) TJ444-9-2008 IMUS 7/PCA0174 Keep On W

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Matt spied the Katie Hines,

a three-masted vessel so sharp and bright,

she seemed like a star gliding on water.

And when he spotted her proud,

white-haired captain,

Matt begged for a chance to go to sea.

It was breaking the rules to let a boy

under fifteen sail, TJ444-9-2008 IMUS 7/PCA0174 Keep On W but that old sea dog took a liking to him,

and Matthew Alexander Henson became

his cabin boy. W/F Rhodamine/Magenta (V) :1 .5X:.5 5L140 IKPP 1.25”XH:9.75” 150L 1.25”XH:9.75” 150L 140 IKPP :1

“I shipped as cabin-boy, on board a vessel bound for China. After my first

W/F Rhodamine/Magenta (V) voyage…I became an able-bodied seaman…sailing to China, Japan…North Africa,

Spain, France, and through the Black Sea to Southern Russia.” TJ444-9-2008 IMUS 7/PCA0174 Keep On W

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For the next five years,

Matt’s school was the world,

his classroom the boat.

Captain Childs taught him history and mathematics,

and soon Matt could navigate by the stars,

tie sailor’s knots,

and fix or build most anything. TJ444-9-2008 IMUS 7/PCA0174 Keep On W W/F Rhodamine/Magenta (V) :1 .5X:.5 5L140 IKPP 1.25”XH:9.75” 150L 1.25”XH:9.75” 150L 140 IKPP :1 W/F Rhodamine/Magenta (V) TJ444-9-2008 IMUS 7/PCA0174 Keep On W

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After Captain Childs died,

Matt left the sea, unsure of his course.

He was working in a store in Washington, D.C.,

when a naval engineer named Robert E. Peary

came looking for a hat—and found an

assistant besides.

Matt proved so able that Peary asked him to join

his next expedition to Greenland.

Soon Matt realized Peary’s heart was set TJ444-9-2008 IMUS 7/PCA0174 Keep On W on one goal:

to be the first to stand at the top of the world. W/F Rhodamine/Magenta (V) :1 .5X:.5 5L140 IKPP 1.25”XH:9.75” 150L 1.25”XH:9.75” 150L 140 IKPP :1 W/F Rhodamine/Magenta (V) TJ444-9-2008 IMUS 7/PCA0174 Keep On W

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But the Pole was not an easy prize,

and Peary and Matt had much to learn about the

harsh, cold north.

Matt studied with new teachers now: the Inuit.

Of all the explorers who entered their world,

Matt was their favorite,

and they gave him the nickname Mahri-Pahlik,

Matthew the Kind One. TJ444-9-2008 IMUS 7/PCA0174 Keep On W W/F Rhodamine/Magenta (V) :1 .5X:.5 5L140 IKPP 1.25”XH:9.75” 150L 1.25”XH:9.75” 150L 140 IKPP :1 W/F Rhodamine/Magenta (V) “I have come to love these people. I know every man, woman, and child

in their tribe. They are my friends and they regard me as theirs.” TJ444-9-2008 IMUS 7/PCA0174 Keep On W

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Matt took the time to listen,

to learn their language, and to make friends.

He studied how to build and drive a dog sledge,

and how to dress and hunt in order to survive.

Hard-working, skilled, and kind,

Matt Henson earned the respect of all. TJ444-9-2008 IMUS 7/PCA0174 Keep On W W/F Rhodamine/Magenta (V) :1 .5X:.5 5L140 IKPP 1.25”XH:9.75” 150L 1.25”XH:9.75” 150L 140 IKPP :1

“Eight days out and not a shot, not a sight of game, nothing. The night is coming W/F Rhodamine/Magenta (V)

quickly, the long months of darkness, of quiet and cold, that, in spite of my years

of experience, I can never get used to…” TJ444-9-2008 IMUS 7/PCA0174 Keep On W

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Through years of struggle and heartbreak,

the explorers faced

furious storms, the shifting ice,

and always, always,

the unrelenting, desperate cold.

On Peary’s 1906 expedition, he and Matt

set a record, TJ444-9-2008 IMUS 7/PCA0174 Keep On W reaching farther north than anyone had before.

But storms forced them back,

the top of the world still out of reach,

nearly two hundred miles away. W/F Rhodamine/Magenta (V) :1 .5X:.5 5L140 IKPP 1.25”XH:9.75” 150L 1.25”XH:9.75” 150L 140 IKPP

“The wind would find the tiniest opening in our clothing and pierce us with the :1

force of driving needles. Our hoods froze to our growing beards and when we W/F Rhodamine/Magenta (V) halted we had to break away the ice that had been formed…” TJ444-9-2008 IMUS 7/PCA0174 Keep On W

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Peary was determined to make one final try.

And so on July 6, 1908,

Peary’s team of explorers set sail again

on the Roosevelt,

a ship so strong it could push through

the Arctic ice.

They spent the winter locked in the frozen sea, TJ444-9-2008 IMUS 7/PCA0174 Keep On W readying sledges, supplies, food, stoves,

and more than two hundred dogs.

They hauled everything by dog sledge

to the northernmost tip of Ellesmere Island. W/F Rhodamine/Magenta (V)

From this base camp they would launch :1 .5X:.5 5L140 IKPP 1.25”XH:9.75” 150L Peary’s last attempt for the Pole. 1.25”XH:9.75” 150L 140 IKPP :1

“The dogs were double-fed and we put a good meal inside ourselves before W/F Rhodamine/Magenta (V) turning-in on the night of February 28, 1909. The next morning was to be

our launching, and we went to sleep full of the thought of what was before us.” TJ444-9-2008 IMUS 7/PCA0174 Keep On W

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On March 1, 1909, Peary and Henson’s team set out

across the frozen Polar Sea,

over endless ridges of sharp, drifting ice,

aiming for one point on the ice at the top of the world,

four hundred and thirteen miles away.

Peary’s plan used support teams of men and dogs

to break trail, build igloos, and haul and cache supplies,

inching the assault forward day by day. TJ444-9-2008 IMUS 7/PCA0174 Keep On W But there were only enough supplies for

one small team to make the fast and final dash

of five grueling marches,

one hundred thirty-three miles more. W/F Rhodamine/Magenta (V) :1 .5X:.5 5L140 IKPP 1.25”XH:9.75” 150L “Day and night were the same. My thoughts were on the going

and getting forward, and on nothing else…” 1.25”XH:9.75” 150L 140 IKPP :1

W/F Rhodamine/Magenta (V) “Traveling was slow, and the dogs became demons; at one time,

sullen and stubborn; then wildly excited and savage…” TJ444-9-2008 IMUS 7/PCA0174 Keep On W

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By April 1, Peary had sent everyone back

except Matt and four Inuit men:

Ootah, Seegloo, Ooqueah, and Egingwah.

For Peary could not get along without Matt Henson,

experienced, resourceful, brave.

Matt was better than anyone else at driving the dogs,

fixing stoves and sledges,

breaking and finding the trail, TJ444-9-2008 IMUS 7/PCA0174 Keep On W urging their Inuit companions on.

Without Matt Henson there would be no Pole. W/F Rhodamine/Magenta (V) :1 .5X:.5 5L140 IKPP 1.25”XH:9.75” 150L 1.25”XH:9.75” 150L 140 IKPP “Without the Esquimo dog, the story of the North Pole, would remain untold; :1

for human ingenuity has not yet devised any other means to overcome the W/F Rhodamine/Magenta (V) obstacles of cold, storm, and ice that nature has placed in the way…” TJ444-9-2008 IMUS 7/PCA0174 Keep On W

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On April 3,

as they moved across the ice,

Matt slipped and fell through!

Cold, killing water

closed over his head.

Matt could not grasp the edge of the ice

with his thick gloves. TJ444-9-2008 IMUS 7/PCA0174 Keep On W W/F Rhodamine/Magenta (V) :1 .5X:.5 5L140 IKPP 1.25”XH:9.75” 150L

“We were crossing a lane of moving ice…the block of ice I was using as a support 1.25”XH:9.75” 150L 140 IKPP :1 slipped from underneath my feet, and before I knew it the sledge was out of my grasp,

W/F Rhodamine/Magenta (V) and I was floundering in the water of the lead.” TJ444-9-2008 IMUS 7/PCA0174 Keep On W

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Then, in a flash, strong Ootah was there.

He grabbed Matt and pulled him out

as if he were picking up a puppy by

the scruff of its neck.

He tore off Matt’s sealskin boots,

beat the water from his bearskin trousers,

saved the sledge and Mahri-Pahluk’s life.

And then they simply kept on. TJ444-9-2008 IMUS 7/PCA0174 Keep On W W/F Rhodamine/Magenta (V) :1 .5X:.5 5L140 IKPP 1.25”XH:9.75” 150L 1.25”XH:9.75” 150L 140 IKPP :1

“From now on it was keep on going, and keep on—and we kept on; sometimes W/F Rhodamine/Magenta (V) in the face of storms of wind and snow that it is impossible for you to imagine.” TJ444-9-2008 IMUS 7/PCA0174 Keep On W

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On April 6, 1909,

Peary planted a flag on a spot on the ice.

The Pole at last—or as close to it as they could figure.

After eighteen years, thousands of miles,

the thin, tattered flag they always carried

looked as ragged and worn as Peary and Matt. TJ444-9-2008 IMUS 7/PCA0174 Keep On W W/F Rhodamine/Magenta (V) :1 .5X:.5 5L140 IKPP 1.25”XH:9.75” 150L “For a few minutes it hung limp and lifeless in the dead calm of the haze, and then a

slight breeze, increasing in strength, caused the folds to straighten out, and soon it was 1.25”XH:9.75” 150L 140 IKPP :1

rippling out in sparkling color…. Three hearty cheers rang out on the still, frosty air, our

W/F Rhodamine/Magenta (V) dumb dogs looking on in puzzled surprise.” TJ444-9-2008 IMUS 7/PCA0174 Keep On W

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But now, at last,

these brave explorers

could watch it fly from the top of the world. TJ444-9-2008 IMUS 7/PCA0174 Keep On W W/F Rhodamine/Magenta (V) :1 .5X:.5 5L140 IKPP 1.25”XH:9.75” 150L 1.25”XH:9.75” 150L 140 IKPP :1 W/F Rhodamine/Magenta (V) TJ444-9-2008 IMUS 7/PCA0174 Keep On W

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MATTHEW HENSON was a courageous explorer faced. It was not until 1945 that the Navy finally In 1988, Henson and his wife were reinterred at EXPLORE! whose many skills and fluency in the Inuit lan- awarded medals to the surviving members of the Arlington National Cemetery, next to Peary, in large guage were absolutely essential to the success of 1908–1909 Polar Expedition, including Henson. part through the efforts of Dr. S. Allen Counter. Peary’s expeditions. Born on August 8, 1866, Other honors have followed; the U. S. Navy oceano-oceanog- MATT HENSON’S GRAVESTONE NOW READS: “The long trail was finished, Henson was orphaned at a young age and befriend- graphicraphic survey survey ship, ship, the the USNS USNS Henson, Henson,isis named named in in ed by a sea captain who took him on as a cabin boy his honor, and in 2000, the National Geographic the work was done, and gave him an education. Henson’s wide-ranging Society posthumously awarded Matthew Henson the and there was only left for us to talents became invaluable once he joined Robert E. Hubbard Medal for exploration and discovery. Both Peary’s Arctic expedition team. Henson fixed the Peary and Henson fathered children with Inuit return and tell the tale of the doing.” sleds, hunted, and traded with the Inuit for needed women, and in 1987, Dr. S. Allen Counter, a Harvard

—MATTHEW HENSON furs and skins. Other explorers who went on the Harvardprofessor professor and member and ofmember the Explorers of the Explorers Club, brought expedition recognized his crucial role, but the Club,Henson’ broughts and Peary’sHenson’s sons and on Peary’s a visit sons to the on U.S. a visit to general public was slow to honor him, and upon tomeet the their U.S. Americanto meet their relatives. American relatives. his return from the Arctic, Henson had a hard time finding work. SOME YEARS AGO, when I first learned about Whether or not Peary and Henson reached the actual North Pole has been a matter of contro-

TJ444-9-2008 IMUS 7/PCA0174 Keep On W the Arctic explorer, Matthew Henson I was versy since their return from their last expedition. surprised. Although I love to read about Another explorer, Frederick Cook, claimed to have survival and exploration, I'd never heard of reached the Pole a year before them. Cook was eventually proved wrong, but arguments over this extraordinary African-American explorer whether Peary actually set foot on the Pole have W/F Rhodamine/Magenta (V) before. Even now, many people who recognize continued. In 1990, in a study by the Navigation Foundation commissioned by the National Accompanies The explorers get to within 175 miles of the name of Robert E. Peary are not familiar TIME LINE Navy Civil the Pole, setting a new record for going :1

.5X:.5 5L140 IKPP 1.25”XH:9.75” 150L Geographic Society, experts made an exhaustive Engineer Lt. First trip with Peary to Greenland the farthest north. (They had previously Robert E. set a record in 1900.) Second trip with Peary with Henson. Clearly, the racial climate at the examination of Peary’s correspondence and naviga- Peary (born Sails on the Katie Marries Lucy Ross Born in Charles County, May 6, 1856) Hines, where he is Third trip, in which the tional methods and concluded that on April 6, Maryland The explorers’ last expedition

to Nicaragua, 1.25”XH:9.75” 150L 140 IKPP time obscured Henson’s unique role in the taught by Captain explorers bring back a

leaves New York City in July. :1 to search for a Childs portion of a large meteorite 1909, Peary, Henson, and their Inuit companions possible site Peary, Henson, and four A four-year expedition pair’s success. Yet Matt Henson is an explorer for a canal, Inuit men reach the reached the near vicinity of the North Pole. with Peary in the Arctic later built in North Pole. Panama W/F Rhodamine/Magenta (V) to be admired, not just as Peary’s long-time The fact that Matthew Henson’s name is not widely known even today reveals much about 1866 1879 1883 1887 1891 1893 1896 1898-1902 1905 partner, but in his own right. 1908 the times in which he lived and the prejudices he 1892 1895 1897 1906 1909 * Color blocks represent expeditions 1907

PHOTO OF MATTHEW HENSON COURTESY OF UNITED STATES LIBRARY OF CONGRESS TJ444-9-2008 IMUS 7/PCA0174 Keep On W

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There are many websites and books about Matthew Henson and Robert E. Peary. To learn more, start your exploration at: http://www.matthewhenson.com.

Special thanks to Genevieve LeMoine of The Peary-Macmillan Arctic Museum and Arctic Studies Center at Bowdoin College for reading this manuscript. For more information about Arctic explorers see the museum’s online exhibits: http://www.bowdoin.edu/arctic-museum/index.shtml.

Quotes are in Matthew Henson's own words, from A NEGRO EXPLORER AT THE NORTH POLE, published in 1912

and available as a free download from The Project Gutenberg. Release Date: March 28, 2007 [EBook #20923].

Other resources include DARK COMPANION: THE STORY OF MATTHEW HENSON

TJ444-9-2008 IMUS 7/PCA0174 Keep On W by Bradley Robinson with Matthew Henson.

New York: K. M. McBride, 1947. Revised Edition, 1975.

NORTH POLE LEGACY: BLACK, WHITE, AND ESKIMO

by S. Allen Counter.

Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1991.

Finds work as a parking garage attendant Invited to the White House

:1 Elected to the Explorers Club .5X:.5 5L140 IKPP 1.25”XH:9.75” 150L Publishes his book, A Negro Explorer Donald MacMillan tries, but fails, to Dies and Reburied in Arlington Explorer at the North Pole get a bill passed in Congress to honor Henson. is buried National Cemetery beside in New York Admiral Robert E. Peary. Begins work for the Peary dies. Howard University Thirty-six years after his U.S. Customs Bureau honors Henson co-discovery of the Pole, with an honorary Henson is honored with a Awarded the Hubbard degree. Navy medal. Medal (posthumous) Awarded a gold by the National W/F Rhodamine/Magenta (V) 1939 medal by the Geographic Society 1910 1913 1920 1945 Chicago 1955 1988 2000 1938 Geographical 1912 1937 Society 1954 1948